Us Senate & House

Senate hopefuls mix it up Murphy, McMahon agree only on 1% spending cut BY PAUL HUGHES

ROCKY HILL â€” The only pleasantries that U.S. Senate rivals Linda McMahon and Rep. Christopher S. Murphy, D-5th District, exchanged Sunday were when they shook hands.

McMahon and Murphy clashed over economic plans, taxes, Medicare and Social Security, gay rights, women's issues, the health care overhaul and each other in the first of their four debates.

From beginning to end, the animosity that has marked much of this highly personalized and rancorous campaign was on full display for a television audience for one hour Sunday morning.

The debate did force the candidates to delve more deeply into the issues in a campaign that has been characterized as light on substance. Still, there was plenty of scolding, sermonizing and umbrage-taking by both candidates.

One of the most notable developments Sunday was McMahon's reversal of position on same-sex marriage.

She said she would vote to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 federal law that defines marriage as the union between a man and a woman and provides that a state cannot be forced to recognize a same-sex marriage sanctioned by other states and countries.

She stated during a Republican debate in July that she would not support repealing the act.

Murphy said he is the candidate with the stronger record on gay rights.

Sunday's debate at the Rocky Hill studios of WFSB-TV came just under a month from the Nov. 6 election.

Murphy is a three-term Democratic congressman who has represented the 5th District since 2007.

McMahon is the former CEO of WWE Inc., formerly known as World Wrestling Entertainment. This is the second time in two years that Republicans have nominated her for Senate.

McMahon is running on a six-point economic plan that lays out a mix of tax and spending cuts, jobs initiatives and policy proposals. It is the staple of her campaign. McMahon said she is the only candidate addressing jobs and the economy.

"Congressman Murphy does not have plan," she said.

Murphy proposed a jobs plan in June. It proposes to simplify the tax code, promote and strengthen American manufacturing, reinvest in the transportation system, fund education and job training and encourage the development of the renewable energy industry.

The McMahon campaign has seized on Murphy's description of the plan as "a work in progress" to claim that he does not have a finished plan.

"Linda McMahon should stop spreading this fiction that I have no plan to create jobs. I know that she made her living making up stories in the wrestling ring, but it is not OK to make them up when you are running for the United States Senate," Murphy said.

He said McMahon lifted much of her economic plan from ones that House Republicans and the libertarian Cato Institute proposed.

"Congressman Murphy, shame on you," McMahon angrily responded, and she called the plagiarism charge untrue, contemptible and a sign of desperation.

The McMahon plan proposes to cut income and corporate taxes, eliminate the estate tax, and index taxes on capital gains to inflation. It would also end corporate tax credits except for charitable deductions and business subsidies.

McMahon said the Affordable Care Act is not reducing the cost of health care as Obama and congressional Democrats intended.

"Insurance premiums are going up. The cost of health care is going up. We're going to add about 10 million more people to our health care rolls and we are not going to have the doctors or medical personnel to support that. I do think we a revision," she said.

McMahon said she favors repealing much of the law. Yet, she only named two provisions that she would retain â€”prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions and allowing children to remain on their parents' health plans until age 26.

"There is no repeal-and-replace plan," Murphy said. "The Republicans in Washington have voted to repeal this bill 33 times and they have never offered any replacement."

Murphy and McMahon came closest to agreeing Sunday on the subject of spending cuts. With caveats, each candidate is proposing a 1 percent reduction to federal spending. They disagreed on where they draw the line.

"I have proposed for a 1 percent cut in discretionary spending and I have been specific about where we could do that," Murphy said.

He said he has opposed duplicative defense programs, subsidies to agribusinesses and tax breaks to the oil industry, the natural gas industry and companies that move jobs and business out of the country.

McMahon has proposed the president and Congress cut 1 percent from the federal budget each year until balance is reached.

"Congressman Murphy, you and I agree on the 1 percent cut in spending, except that I would not cut more from defense," she said.

She said nearly $500 billion is being cut from the defense budget over the next 10 years and another $500 billion in automatic cuts will occur unless Congress reaches agreement on a debt-reduction plan. She said this will hurt the state's $3 billion defense industry.

"I am not going to vote for any more cuts in our defense spending because I think we need to have a strong defense and we need to preserve that portion of the economy here in Connecticut. I do think there are other places to find that 1 percent cut," she said.

The two candidates have been sparring over Social Security and Medicare. McMahon denied Murphy's charges Sunday that she would phase out Social Security and privatize Medicare.

McMahon and Murphy debate a second time at 7 p.m. Thursday at the University of Connecticut. They will meet again on Oct. 15 in New London and on Oct. 18 in Hartford. All the debates are being televised live.

" Well Murphy won their first debate. McMahon was woefully light on details in her responses to most of the questions on the isseus. And to think her plan is just lifted in substantial form from conservative Republican think tank websites ... "

" We will be the laughing stock of the nation if dumb people vote her in. Why can't we have an intelligent and respectful candidate like Elizabeth Warren represent us? We are not idiots in Connecticut. "

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